Camping under the stars
by guest with a lot of ideas
Summary: Team JNPR performs a team building exercise where some secrets are revealed. The Emerald Forest is in for a bit of a shake up.


Camping under the stars

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. This is a fanfiction that is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth or it's parent company. Any and all money made off of it is illegal as this if for entertainment purposes only. Please support the official release of RWBY

Author's note: I is just easy for me to come up with short story ideas that fit into the RWBY universe. I have this one about a Team JNPR bonding around Volume 1. I have another about Qrow extracting Ruby from the tower at the end of Volume 3. A third about visiting Jaune's family between Volume 2 and 3. And yet a fourth about a race between Fox and Ruby at some unknown time to see which is faster and the rest of the characters placing bets on them. The ideas are easy and even the characters outlines. The problem is the actual writing. Well. Lets see what I can do with this.

Story

The first week after Ursa attack in the Emerald forest, Juane and Pyrha's coincidental disappearances were written of easily. Juane had all of his additional work from Oobleck and Pyrrha was a bit of an exercise nut who Ren had to occasionally drag away from the gym to ensure she was eating properly.

The second week of disappearances was noted upon by the other half of team JNPR but still mostly overlooked.

It wasn't until the third week that Nora wanted to call the pair out on it and only Ren's soothing words about prying into other people's businesses kept her from trying to play spy and following them. At least until Thursday when Nora threw privacy to the winds and follow them. Which was propyl defeated by Professor Port asking for her assistance in rounding up a rough flock of Nevermore that had escaped from their cages.

Now at week four even Ren was willing to admit the suspicious activity. Just as he and Nora were planning confronting them on Friday night Juane enter the room all smiles. "Pack enough clothing for a few days and bring you weapons. We have a job from Ozpen."

Ren and Nora exchanged glances before looking over at Pyrrha who looked just as confused as they were. However the trio dutifully packed their things and followed Juane out to one of the school's private flight pads where a fully prepped Bullhead was waiting with engines roaring.

"Juane." Pyrrha yelled to be heard over the roaring engine, "What are we doing?" Her voice was lost in wind. Jaune just beckoned them forwards into the rear compartment.

Shrugging Nora charged up the ramp and the other two followed, Pyrrha hitting the button to close ramp gate as she passed.

With the cabin sealed and most of the noise drowned out they could conduct a thorough interview of their blond leader.

"So boss man. What's up?" Nora started off directly.

Juane rubbed his head and looked for a way out to only give up and give in. "We're going on the over weekend Grimm hunt in the Emerald Forest."

This got everyone's attention. "You do know that is for Professor Peach's second years don't you?" Pyrrha asked.

While illusive most of the time, Professor Peach taught both Outdoor Survival and Long Term Reconnaissance classes for Beacon. She was also a chef in the kitchen but that was a separate matter.

Once they hit their second year, each team was required to spend at least two weekend a semester out in the Emerald Forest to clear out Grimm hives that might try to encroach upon the school. It was a core requirement for upper classmen and one that was viewed with equal parts dread and jubilation.

Ren was the first to ask the obvious question. "How did you manage that?"

"A combination of luck and a few favors." Juane said mysteriously as he tried to play out the accomplishment that not even RWBY had achieved yet despite being arguably the top of their class.

Pyrrha gave him a stern look that Ren mirrored. "Nothing underhanded I hope."

"Were there back room deals?" Nora cried. Her imagination running wild. "Or shady men in dark alleyways with suitcases full of Len that get traded off?" Then her eyes shined with glee, "Did it involve secret blood packs with forgotten gods in exchange for you first born CHILD!" She had worked herself up so much that the pit sized powerhouse was standing with one leg on the bench and her fist raised in the air….

Just before some turbulent caused her to lose her footing and fall into Pyrrha's lap.

By this point Juane was red in the face over the implication while Ren just shook his head in mild exasperation.

"No-no nothing like that."

Ren whisper in the blonds ear, "better come clean or she'll be like this all weekend."

Sighing as he hoped they could save it for later Juane opened his mouth, only to run to a small sick bag dispenser in the corner and promptly lose his lunch.

The other three looked at the 'fearless leader' with a mixture of surprise and pity. They all heard that he could get a bad case of motion sickness but the only ones to experience it firsthand were Ruby and Yang.

Pyrrha tentatively started rubbing his back after the boy came up for air. Juane didn't dare look up or talk for the rest of the flight.

The Bullhead dropped them off at what could pass for an overgrown flight pad and left just a quickly to avoid attracting the attention of a Nevermore or other kinds of flying Grimm.

Juane hadn't yet recovered from the flight and Pyrrha promptly took the lead. "Ok." She said sorting through the supplies that Beacon provided them. "Map." She muttered to herself under her breath. "Map, map map." Only to feel someone tap her on the shoulder. Looking up, the Lady Hoplite saw Nora holding what was unmisstably the map.

"It was on top of the food." The pit sized powerhouse said.

Pyrrha smiled and thanked their shortest team member before unfolding it and following the directions to the camping ground that was set up for the class.

After a good fifteen minutes Pyrrha declared, "Ok. We're here."

Not that the tree they stopped in front of was any different than the hundred or so other ones they had passed. At least at first. Ren was the one who pointed out various forms of security while they look around. "Those vines wrapping round the trunk are actually covered in hundreds of iron spikes to prevent King Taijitu from crawling up." He then pointed up into the tree house itself that they would be staying in and then above it. "Razor wire between the braches and larger spikes to prevent anything bigger than a pigeon from coming down from above."

Juane kicked the base of the tree and got a hollow echo back for his trouble. "It the entire thing artificial?" He asked while looking for a way to get in.

"Looks like it." Pyrrha responded from the other side of the fake trunk as she emulated him.

Nora was just sitting back by the food watching while munching on a bag of dried fruit. After her patient ran out she said, "Has anyone thought of using the elevator?"

JPR looked at their relaxing teammate.

"What elevator?" Ren asked.

In response, Nora pointed up above her where a weight system suspended a wooden elevator that wouldn't have look out of place in a production of the 'Swiss Family Robinson'.

Ignoring their looks of embarrassment Juane expended his shield for Pyrrha to use as a spring board to jump up to the elevator and descended a moment later. After the supplies and people were up in the treehouse, Juane looked around and asked, "Ok, who knows how to camp?"

All eyes turn to Ren. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Well…" Pyrrha began, "you are the most outdoorsy out of the four of us."

"You read from a book called Foxfire: the basics of wilderness survival every night." Jaune continued.

Nora finished, "Aaaand when we 11 you said one that you always wished you could live in a treehouse in the woods."

Pyrrha and Juane looked at her sideways. "You remember an offhanded comment for seven years ago?"

"I remember every word Ren ever said to me."

"That's sweet. But also more than a little disturbing." Juane said shaking his head.

While they were all having this little exchange Ren had gotten to work putting their food away and opening some windows to let a week's worth of stale are out.

The rest of his team quickly joining in.

It was dark by the time they had everything stowed away and as electricity was at a premium, the team sat around the build in fire-pit to relax in the low heat.

"Jaune." Pyrrha said from where she laying on his left. "You were about to tell us **how** we were allowed to do something reserved for upper classmen on the Bullhead?" While she did phrase it as a question, there was no room to deny her.

Juane leaned back out of the firelight for a second to compose himself before he began.

"Ok it's a bit of a long and convoluted story."

"My favorite!" Nora squealed from the other side of the fire as she held what looked like a giant stuffed sloth.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you. But first," the team leader left the ring of light to return a second later with a large square bottle of green/amber liquid. "If I'm going to do this lets make it a game. Every time someone interrupts me, they take a drink."

He set down two small glass tumblers.

"Two?" Ren asked.

Juane looked a little pink, "the other two broke along the trip here so I guess we have to share with our partners or something."

Before the words were even out of his mouth, Pyrrha had one of the cups in her hand and was filling it with the liquid. She gestured for Juane to go on, not speaking less she break the rules.

"Thank you Pyrrha. Well you already know that Professor Peach only allows upperclassmen to do this. It's set up as a tear system. A primary group and two reservists. The primary for this weekend was team SLVR."

"Who?" Nora asked.

Juane pushed the bottle to her and as she filled the cup responded, "Silver, the third year team. They were scheduled to do it but they had some trouble with their mission. It would appear while they were escorting a supply convoy to a Fauns settlement they came across a flock of massive Gryphons. As Port has told us repetitively, Gryphons are very hard to put down in the air as they have all the power of an Ursa with the speed of a Nevermore. After expending over 100 round to kill just one of those things, SLVR decided to use their only Bullhead as a makeshift bomb to destroy them all at once."

Nora's eyes glowed with excitement at the though of such a large explosion and forgot the untouched drink in her hands.

"Well it worked and the ones not killed flew off but that left them in a pickle. They were counting on the Bullhead to bring them back to Vale last week so now the four of them are stranded in the settlement until another military Bullhead is available for them."

Ren nodded sagely from his lotus position on a well-used mat. "That makes sense but what about the two reserve teams?"

"Drink first." Juane said and Nora swallowed the amber liquid before starting to gag.

"What IS this?" She asked as Juane handed her a bottle of soda that she drank greedily.

"It's called Absinthe." Juane responded as he then poured himself some from the cup he took from Pyrrha. After all, the rules applied to everyone and he was interrupting himself. "A kind of alcohol one of the farmers my family rents land to is prone to making."

Ren took his drink and made a face. "That is… tart… I guess."

Juane pushed the soda to Ren. "It'll help."

Ren was dubious of accepting another beverage from Juane and tried some water instead only for that to fail and drake the carbonated water. To his surprise it did help.

Pyrrha had since stolen Juane's full but unused cup and took a squig as well with identical results. "THAT is not alcohol." She stated after downing half the soda in one breath. "I have had a cup of wine with dinner every week since I was 10." She held pointed accusatorially at the bottle. "This is not alcohol."

Juane shrugged and took his shot like it was nothing. "I admit to it being an acquired taste but it's real."

After some protesting and Juane promising that once they got back to Vale he would show them it was real the story continued.

"The first alternate was team TERR."

"Who?" Pyrrha asked before she could stop herself. Grabbing the bottle she poured herself a drink and chugged it as fast as she could, hoping to escape her taste buds. It didn't work. However she did get a sense of satisfaction over the indirect kiss she just shared with Jaune

"Team turk is a fourth year team. Tsung, Elena, Reno Rude." Ren supplied.

"I don't know them either." Nora said and when the bottle was pushed to her the red head stuck her tong out a Juane.

"You know Reno. Medium height, red hair. He patted Yang's backside on Wednesday and she punched him into a low grade orbit." Jaune supplied

That got them to recognize Reno at least.

"Nobody is quite sure where he is but he keeps sending his team selfies of himself next to a pile of death Grimm asking them where he is. Ozpen excused them from the assignment to allow them to look for their missing teammate."

"And the second alternate was CFVY and this is where I come in." Juane took another shot of the awful liquid like it was nothing before continuing. "Coco didn't file the paperwork for her new weapon and switching from a Light Machine Gun to a Gatling gun is apparently a big deal so she was caught up in some red tape. Velvet's weapon has been impounded because nobody can seem to make it work but a Giger counter is telling people it's radioactive. My dad knows some people who were able to clear the mess up and so they owed me a favor. I asked to do this and they agreed." Jaune chuckled at that. "Apparently Velvet don't like the fact we have almost no hot water her to wash her fur."

Jaune could feel a disturbance beside him. Looking over he saw his partner practically glow with anger. "What about no hot water to bath in?"

The young man retreated away from the fire on his knees but that only allowed the Lady Hoplite to cast an ominous shadow over him with the red fire as a backdrop, making her look like some kind of hellish monster.

"We-We only have about a 10 gallon tank that is solar powered." Jaune sputtered out. This didn't seem to be working in his favor. "I can help you with your hair!" He screeched. At this Pyrrha stopped her advance but didn't back down. Waiting for him to continue. Seeing his chance Jaune rambled, "My mother has hair that goes down past her feet when not done up and I've had to help her a lot in the past. I'm sure I could figure out something to do with your."

Placated, Pyrrha smiled down at Jaune and move back to her previous position by the fire. Patting the area her blond partner just vacated as an invitation for him to come back.

The night continued like this in some degree on another. Despite his initial comments, Ren really seemed to take a shine to Absinthe. Nora also couldn't help but note that after Jaune took a shot, Pyrrha would immediately pour herself one despite the taste.

It was just past midnight when Jaune tried to put his foot down. "We have a busy day tomorrow people so lets get ready for bed."

"Two more thing Oh-Fearless-Leader." Nora said as she hiccupped slightly. She had consumed two bottles of soda by herself and while it had no caffeine in it, she had gotten the hiccups from the carbonated beverage. "One… where do you and Pyrrha keep disappearing off to. It's not like your dating of anything and sneaking out for a make out session." At this both Jaune and Pyrrha went as red as the Lady Hoplite's hair. "And two, how did you get into Beacon?"

Jaune felt the bottom of his stomach drop out. He looked down at the dregs of the bottle of alcohol at his side. He popped the lid and downed the last few drops before answering. Using a small coughing fit to give himself more time.

"The explanation for the second answers the first." Jaune said trying to be cryptic and hoping that the soda high Nora wouldn't push it.

However he forgot about Ren. "How so?

Glancing over at Pyrrha, Jaune replied. "I never made it into Beacon." He paused. Waiting for the storm of questions to come.

"Though so." Was all Nora said as she luxuriated on her back, her feet in Ren's lap.

Jaune looked at the pair. "You did."

"It was kind of obvious." Ren responded. "Nora and I might never have went to combat school but even we had our Aura's unlocked before coming here. You didn't even know what one was."

"And…" Jaune paused. "your not mad."

"A little bit." Nora responded as she rolled on her side and hid another hiccup. "But more that you didn't tell us than anything else."

Ren nodded in kind before turning to Pyrrha. "I take it you knew."

"Yes." She admitted. "Jaune let it slip just before he started hanging out with Cardin."

"Is that why you were avoiding us?" Nora asked now more focused on the conversation. "You were afraid that Pyrrha would tell us and our reaction?"

Looking at the empty bottle in his hands Jaune responded, "No. I was doing that because Cardin's over heard me telling Pyrrha." Jaune paused, "He was blackmailing me to do stuff for him in exchange for keeping the secret all the way up until the Ursa attack in the forest last month."

"Where you killed the thing solo and saved his life." Pyrrha stated with a smile.

Head jerking up he asked, "How did you know about that?"

"Ruby, Weiss and I were in the trees. You killed it before we could help but I heard the conversation." The smile she gave him was far brighter then the dying fire. "You were very heroic."

Jaune blushed at that.

"And as to where you disappear to." Ren said. "I take it you," he looked a Pyrrha, "have been giving him" node at Jaune, "additional combat lessons to help him catch up."

Pyrrha nodded.

"What about you two?" Jaune asked. If he was being forced to admit his secret entrance, wanted to know about how Ren and Nora got in legally.

"I may have mentioned this before but" Nora interrupted herself with a hiccup, "Ren and I are orphans." She stopped for a second to drink some water.

"Nobody adopted us and with Vale's policies moving away from orphanages to foster families, we knew we wouldn't have a home for much longer." Ren continued as he looked into the embers of the fire. "Neither of us had much luck getting jobs and with our schooling being a little fractured, we could never hope to attend a college and get an advanced degree."

"So one day I had the GREATEST IDEA IN THE WORLD!" Nora piped in far too loudly as she went from a laying position to a sitting one. Only to get a headache.

Ren pushed her gently back to the ground before continuing. "So one day she pointed to Beacon academy and decides that Hunters are always in demand so why not become one." He looked down at his surrogate sister and smiled. "The rest was relatively easy."

Nora started to snore softly at this. Ren nodded at the others before lifting her up and moving her and the giant sloth stuffed animal into a sleeping bag before slipping to his own. "Good night you two." He said and rolled onto his side.

Pyrrha and Jaune remained by the fire only long enough to ensure it wouldn't burn out of control and set the treehouse ablaze in the night.

As they were preparing for bed themselves Pyrrha asked, "What kinds of things would you do to my hair?"

Looking up from his childish, but also remarkably warm, footy pajamas Jaune responded, "Well the most basic of them is to brush one's hair 100 times. There is also this thing with an egg yolk that I know and I believe I saw some baby powder and clean rag."

Pyrrha tuned out the words and just drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of his voice.

On Sunday evening when the Bullhead landed back in Beacon the quartet of fighters disembarked. Looking slightly grumpy but none the worse for weir, they were greeted by team RWBY.

"So?" Yang began. "How was the field trip?"

"It… was… AWSOME!" Nora cried as she jumped up and down. "On Saturday morning I came across a bear. A real bear not an Ursa. And I was like 'GRRRRRR'. And he went like "AAAARRRRRR'. Then a small Death Stalker broke through the brush and went 'HISSSSSS'. To which I jumped back with a cry. But the bear went 'ROAR' and swatted the thing through a tree. After which he let me ride him into battle against the Grimm all weekend." Nora hyperventilated. "I named him Barry."

Ruby looked at Team JNPR's pint sized powerhouse with eyes as large as saucers. "Can I go with you on your next fieldtrip?" She squealed.

Inching over to Lie Ren, Weiss asked, "How much of that was true?"

"Would you believe that it was a Boarbatusk rather than a Death Stalker."

"Probably not." Weiss stated.

At that point the short Professor Peach walked onto the flight pad. "I see you all got back safely. I am so glad." She smiled at the four members of JNPR. "When Ozpen told me to subsite you for team CFVY I admit to having my dought but it looks like you made it out ok."

"Yes Professor." Pyrrha responded. "However you could use a bigger water taken at camp, it was a little rough." Even as she said that, she stroked the tips of her hair slightly. While Jaune's small remedies did wonders on keeping it clean and presentable, nothing could quite replace a modern shampoo in the champion's eyes.

"I know but every time I try Berry shows up and throws a fit."

"… Berry?" Blake asked.

"Oh yes. The old bear that lives beneath the camp site is the best security system I could ask for to watch over my students while the sleep. Everything short of a Goliath steers clear of that old boy and believe me, if I could I would enroll him here at Beacon. Berry's got more Aura in his system than half the staff here." With that Peach let out a small laugh. "However Glinda keeps shooting it down on the grounds that 'a wild animal shouldn't be living so close to humans'. Bah. What does she know?" At this the professor turned and waved Team JNPR to follow her. "Let's get your report on what kind of Grimm you found and how many you killed then you can be off for a good meal and a long hot shower."

As they walked away, Nora got into a long winded tale about the competition JNPR set up between themselves on keeping track of the Grimm they killed. Culminating in Pyrrha decapitating both the heads of a King Taijitu in one swing. The little ginger left out the part where Ren got more kills then the two girls put together.

Team RWBY was left on the platform for a minute before Ruby herself let out a squeal. "I want to go on overnight patrol next." Turning to her sister she begged, "Can I Yang? Can I?"

Rubbing the top of Ruby's head Yang responded, "We'll see little sis. We will see."

End Notes

Team SLVR is based off a fan-made trailer for RWBY it on youtube.

Team TERR (Turk) is obviously from Final Fantasy 7. I needed someone to take up the second spot and I can see Reno being an idiot and trying to feel Yang up.

Absinthe alcohol is a real kind that my brother drinks that is about 140 proof or 74% alcohol by volume. You're supposed to run it over a sugar cube but I have never had it like that and wanted to inflict that pain on the RWBY cast. That was actually where this idea came from, making up a story about fictional people drinking the dreaded stuff.

As drinking limits vary differently from country to country in our world, I will be saying that 18 is the legal limit for Remnant. Or else Yang couldn't get into Jr's bar in her trailer.

Like always I tried to keep everyone in character as I see it. Seeing as this is set during Volume 1 Jaune is still coming into his own and while he shows flashes of inspirational leadership, he is not there yet.

Nora is alternating between highly observant and completely airheaded. In some ways I view her in a similar vein as Venille form Final Fantasy 13, they even have similar hair color.

Pyrrha is the team mom and more then competent but still a person. Please remember I am a guy and my hair tends to grow out and up rather then down so I had to base the hair treatment stuff on what I have heard over anything else.

Ren is always there, never stepping into the bigger picture but I can't help but feel that he had to develop a lot of sublet skills in order to deal with Nora's antics and would be an excellent house husband.


End file.
